


Her Darkest Days

by EdgyFood87



Category: The Walking Dead (Telltale Video Game)
Genre: Depression, Father-Daughter Relationship, Guilt, Hallucinations, Inspired by Music, Suicidal Thoughts, Walkers (Walking Dead)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-13
Updated: 2017-09-30
Packaged: 2018-12-27 07:58:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12076872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EdgyFood87/pseuds/EdgyFood87
Summary: After Lee dies, what does Clementine think? How does she get through everything?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I was listening to "Save Yourself" by My Darkest Days and it make me think of Lee and Clementine, so I had to write this.
> 
> I also just got into the games recently, so I haven't played season 2 yet, so I'm sorry if this is completely different than what actually happens next in season 2.

Clementine looked at the broken man before her. He was sick. He was hurting. Clem’s heart broke. She had just seen her dead family roaming the streets, and it hurt like a bitch, but at least she had Lee. Lee was her new family, and now, not even 30 minutes later, she was losing him too.

Kenny was gone. Duck was gone. Chuck was gone. Lee was all she had left, and now, here he is, telling her to shoot him so he won’t turn. Part of her wants to just curl up in his lap and wait for him to turn. He’d bite her, she’d die in his arms. They’d be together forever.

“Clem…” Choking back a sob, Clem looked up to meet his pained eyes. “I’ll miss you.”

‘I love you,’ is what Clem wanted to say. She wanted him to know how much she cared for him. “You, too,” is what came out.

“Get to the train,” Lee whispered faintly. “You know how to get there, right?”

Clem nodded, tears spilling out of her eyes and rolling down her cheeks. 

“You can do this, Clem. You’re strong. You’ll get through it. You’ll beat this world.”

Clem began to sob and raised the gun. She looked at her friend, no… her family… for one last time before pulling the trigger. It was done. It was over. She fell to the ground and screamed as loud as she could. She didn’t care if it attracted the walkers. 

“I love you Lee,” she whimpered. “You’re like a dad to me.” You weren't supposed to die. 

She paused for a second before whispering...

“I’m sorry I couldn’t save you.”

 

Clementine opened the door and left the building. She thought she was ready to go and get out of this hellhole, but she found herself running back to Lee. She found herself curled on his dead body, begging for all this to be a bad dream. She was begging him to wake up and tell her everything was going to be ok. 

She stayed there all night. He didn’t wake up.

 

When the sun rose, Clem knew she had to go. If she didn’t get back to Omid and Christa, they’d leave her. She wouldn’t just feel alone, she’d be alone. She couldn’t let that happen.

She still had her head rested on Lee’s lap. She looked up with blind hope. ‘Please let him be ok.’ He wasn’t. He’s really gone.

Clem let out a sob and stood groggily. She crouched next to Lee and kissed his forehead before picking up her hat and walking out the door.

“Goodbye, Lee,” she said as she left him.

As she walked past her walker parents, she only spared a passing glance. Nothing more. Clem knew this was her fault. She knew Lee was dead because of her. If he hadn’t talked to that man on the radio, he wouldn’t have taken her. Lee wouldn’t have had to go looking and he wouldn’t have been bit.

She continued to think until she reached the train.

“Clementine!” she heard Christa call. “We didn’t know where you were!”

She and Omid sprinted up to Clementine, but stopped in their tracks. “Where’s Lee?” Omid asked.

Clementine began to sob, loudly. Christa embraced her softly. “Shh… baby, it’s ok,” she said, trying to comfort her.

“Lee’s dead because of me!” she cried.

“No, he’s not,” Christa said firmly. “It’s not your fault. Don’t ever say that. Don’t even think it.” 

Clem nodded though she knew Christa was wrong. She didn’t deserve to be alive and safe. It should be Lee standing here, not her.

Lee. Always.


	2. Chapter 2

Clementine leaned against a tree, trying her hardest to suppress the feelings and the memories from the other day. She longed to run back to Lee and see if she could wake him up. She knew that would never happen, that it was just stupid hope, but it didn’t make her want it any less. 

She watched Christa and Omid cooking a rabbit they had caught earlier. She couldn’t stay here. She couldn’t stay with them. She needed Lee. 

That night, she couldn’t sleep. Every time she closed her eyes, she was haunted by images of her friend. It was her fault he was dead. She deserved to feel like this. Choking back sobs, she glanced at Omid and Christa, making sure they were really asleep, before grabbing a knife and sprinting back to the city. 

At the outskirts, Clem sliced up a stray walker, rubbing its guts all over her clothes. She gagged a few times before getting used to the horrific smell. She took a deep breath and slowly made her way back to the postal office where she had left Lee.

 

“Lee,” she said, looking at her feet. Clem was standing in front of her friend’s rotting corpse. “I’m sorry I did this to you. You deserved better. It should have been me who died.” Clementine sat down next to Lee and laid her head against his shoulder, slowly drifting off to sleep.

 

Clem opened her eyes, only to be met with the view of Lee. He was alive. He stood over her, looking down at her with intense hatred. “Lee!” Clementine cried happily. “You’re ok!” She jumped to her feet to embrace the man, only to be shoved back down.

Her nose hit the ground with a sickening crunch. “Lee?” She looked back up at him, only to see his had become a walker. “Lee?” 

“You,” he snarled. “You did this to me.” Lee took a threatening step towards her as she scrambling into a corner, whimpering in fear. 

“I’m sorry, Lee!” she cried. “I didn’t mean to do it! I love you, Lee. I love you!”

“It’s too late for that, Clementine,” Lee growled, reaching for the girl. His movements were stopped short when a gunshot sounded and his forehead parted. He fell to the ground, leaving Clementine to watch on, weeping.

 

She woke with a short, quiet gasp and glanced to the side where Lee was. He was still dead. She looked over to the window. It was still dark outside. If she left soon, she’d have time to get back to Omid and Christa. She wanted that. She wanted to survive. That’s what Clem tried to tell herself, but she couldn’t lie. She knew what she wanted, and that was Lee. In life or death, as long as she was with him, the man she loved like her father, she was happy.

She suddenly remembered the knife she had brought with her. She took it out and laid her head on Lee’s lap. She closed her eyes and cried silently as she raised the knife to her heart. She wept out some final words she had said countless times. “I’m sorry.” She was about to plunge the knife deep into her body, to make sure there was no return, when she was stopped by a voice she had been longing to hear for days.

“Clem.” Lee. “Clem, please don’t.” Clementine’s eyes snapped open and standing across the room was Lee, his arm raised in pleading.

“Lee?”

“Yeah, it’s me,” Lee smiled as Clementine ran to him and crouched down to welcome her into his loving arms. Clem clung to him like she had never clung to anything before. She sobbed deeply into his shoulder as his hand rubbed her back comfortingly.

Neither said anything for a while, but eventually Lee spoke up. “Clem, please don’t hurt yourself.”

“But…”

“Don’t argue.” Lee broke the hug and placed his hand on Clementine’s shoulder, looking into her dark eyes. “I’m gone. It’d done for me. You can’t bring me back. But you know who’s not gone?” He pressed his finger into her chest. “You. You’re still here, and you’re going to stay here. What happened to me wasn’t your fault. I know you don’t believe that and you never will, but it’s true. You did nothing wrong. I love you, too Clem. I always will. You’re the child I never had. But please, please, baby girl, please don’t hurt yourself in any way. I will always be with you. You don’t need to die to see me.”

“I don’t know if I can live without you, Lee,” Clem cried, scanning Lee’s face. 

“You can,” Lee assured her. “I know it might be hard, but you’ll do it. You’re strong. You’ll beat this world. I know you will.” Lee let go of her and stood. He cupped her face in his hands and leaned down to plant a kiss on her forehead before he faded away. His voice remained. “We’ll see each other again one day, but now is not the time.”

Clementine stayed standing, looking desperately at where her friend just was. “Lee?” she said. No answer. “Lee, please come back! I need you!” She still didn’t receive an answer, so she collapsed to the floor, crying. After a while, she finally came to her senses and made a decision. It was tough and she didn’t want to, but she decided she’d try. As much as she wanted to end her existence right here and now, she wouldn’t. For Lee. 

Clem stood and wiped her eyes. She slowly made her away across the room to Lee’s corpse. She took his head the way Lee had taken hers and planted one final kiss on his head. She wrapped her arms around him and with one final look at him, she grabbed her knife and left the room, planning to get back to Omid and Christa before anyone noticed she was missing.

She’d do it. She’d beat this world. She’d survive. For Lee.


End file.
